The Okamura Printing Company in Nara, Japan has wonderful ceramics and printmaking facilities, but no other studio areas or on-site accomodations.

Our brief was to refurbish an existing dormitory on site for use by RISD students and their professor(s) on exchange to Japan, hopefully engaging and fostering their design work through the building itself.

My research into Japanese culture and aesthetics led me to realize the depth and strength of Japan and how my reading would never be able to encompass the fullness of their culture. It led me to conceive of the building as having a secret life, something that wasn't always accessible; the building having both a very public face and a private face.